American Horror Story has confirmed its lead casting for its upcoming 13th season, and it’s safe to say that fans are beyond satisfied. Several franchise regulars will be back for the next outing, including none other than ultimate fan favourite Jessica Lange – and she’ll be joined by a certain popstar-turned-Wicked-powerhouse.
Yes, Ariana Grande is reuniting with series creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk after previously going down a treat in Scream Queens (via Variety).
Alongside them, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates and Gabourey Sidibe are all – like Lange – back for the first time since 2018’s Apocalypse, the eighth season.
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Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson are slated to feature, too, and it’ll be their first AHS appearances since season 10, Double Feature, back in 2021. Billie Lourd, Leslie Grossman and Emma Roberts are back as well.
Fans couldn’t be happier with the cast list, which was dropped on Ryan Murphy Productions’ official Instagram feed with a simple video featuring the key names.
FX
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Pop culture commentator Evan Ross Katz responded with an all-caps “SIMPLY CANNOT HANDLE THIS!”, while Drag Race favourite Detox said she was “crying”.
Noah Cyrus wrote simply “JESSICAAAAAA LAAAANGGGGG”, while another fan commented: “The way my mouth DROPPED”.
It’s Lange in particular who seems to have sent the fanbase into meltdown, after she previously suggested that she was done with the show.
Asked by Entertainment Weekly in 2019 if she’d go back, she said: “I don’t think so. I feel like I got the best of it in those first four seasons. Great characters. It was exciting to do. I worked with some of my favorite actors but I can’t see that we could ever get back to that.”
Chelsea Guglielmino//Getty Images
Related: American Horror Story’s Jessica Lange hints at retirement
Whatever Murphy and co have up their sleeves for the new run, it’s clearly been enough to lure her back – but there are no more official details at this point.
There’s plenty of speculation that the casting implies a return to the story started in Coven (season three) and continued in Apocalypse (season eight), with one fan saying: “Damn we’re doing Coven part 3”. Another wrote: “This screams Coven.”
Season 12 concluded its run in April of this year and was titled Delicate, featuring Kim Kardashian, Matt Czuchry and Cara Delevingne.
Per the Instagram reveal, season 13 will arrive in time for Halloween 2026.
American Horror Story airs on FX in the US and Disney+ in the UK, where seasons 1-9 are also available to buy on Prime Video.
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Shaun is an Evening News Editor at Digital Spy, with over a decade of experience reporting on all things pop culture. He has written for outlets including Metro, Attitude, Huffington Post, The Mirror, Yahoo!, Pink News and Express Online; specialising in TV, movies, soaps, music and LGBTQ+ issues. He is also a BAFTA Rocliffe-winning scriptwriter, having written episodes of the soap Hollyoaks, the official Steps musical Here & Now and multiple Offie Award-nominated plays. He studied English Literature and Drama at the University of East Anglia, and will happily talk at length about Desperate Housewives to anyone who’ll listen.